Well do I ever have a case of lice over here. Almost killed my little black silkie. Found her laying in the yard, cold to the touch, not moving, and thought she was done for. Still, I had to try, so I picked her up, dropper fed her some nutri drench, dusted her with Sevin, got her with Eprinex too since I'd been planning to do the flock anyway, and stuck her under a heat lamp. Three hours later, she managed to struggle to her feet and gulp down water like crazy. Now she's sleeping, and she has a dish of scrambled eggs for when she gets hungry. Seriously, this is one tenacious little bird. I thought she was a goner.
Checked some other birds too and yep, we have lice. Lots of lice. Don't know how I missed it since I handle these guys daily. Anyway, they're all dusted. Has anyone else almost had a bird die from lice? And these are lice, not mites. I did read that body lice in chickens will chew through the skin to drink blood from the developing quill of a feather, so if that's really the case, then blood loss would explain what happened to my silkie.
I'm thinking I'm giving her a bath tomorrow to get all the eggs off her since she's covered in those too and the last thing she needs is a repeat in ten days.
I dunno, I could post the thread if anyone wants to go give advice? I'm just really worried I came off sounding harsh and preachy and they won't listen to me, especially since someone else posted in the thread basically validating their idea.
